Abida Parveen sings “teray ishq nachaya..”
As I recited Bulleh Shah’s poetry this evening, a friend sent a link to another video of Abida Parveen singing Bulleh’s mystic poetry in her inimitable style. Lo and behold, I also found an online translation of the verse (see below after the video).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQMoU5khmWk]
Here is a translation of the verse rendered in this video:
O Physician, come back! my life is ebbing away.
Compelled by love, I dance, I dance.
This love has set up camp inside me.
It is I, who filled the cup with this poison and drank it.
Come back right away, else, I will surely die.
Compelled by love, I dance, I dance.
The sun has set, its glow remains.
Grant me a sight of you again! I would die for it!
What a mistake I made, not going with you.
Compelled by love I dance, I dance.
Mother do not bar me from this love.
Whoever turns back unloaded boats that have left?
How foolish I was, not going with the boatman.
Compelled by love I dance, I dance.
Peacocks sing in the groves of love.
My beautiful beloved is my Ka’ba, my Qibla.
He injured me, then turned away.
Compelled by love I dance, I dance.
Bullhe Shah, I sit at Inayat’s door,
He clothed me in robes of green and red.
When I stamped my heel, I found him.
Compelled by love I dance, I dance.
For another version of Punjabi and English, please click here.






May 21st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
if you search youtube you’ll find much more of abida parveen: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=abida+parveen&search=Search
also - taimur afghani sings heer beautifully:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOzQOdeWxsQ
May 21st, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Thanks! I have heard it often, but must say that watching is another experience !
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:44 am
[...] Read more at Raza Rumi [...]
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Wow…I simply love her! I can’t believe I had not heard of her until last week. btw thanks for the translation of lyrics; the soul feels the truth and music transcends language but we are a people of words and the words make the difference.
May 26th, 2007 at 2:48 am
nothing like listening to his views and listening her sing with all the emotions live
August 26th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
[...] Bulleh Shah’s Urs (death anniversary) celebrations have commenced in Qasoor, Pakistan. Bulleh Shah was an iconoclastic Sufi poet from the Punjab who rejected convention, orthodox religion and [...]
August 26th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
isnt it amazing that a saint, a sufi like him expressed such true humility about himself unlike the righteous today…there is no smugness, just a soul searching for the truth and he does not want for an audience and yet people sing his lines years later.
September 1st, 2007 at 4:01 pm
How true!